At least 73 killed in Israeli strike in northern Gaza

Israeli strikes have killed at least 73 people, including women and children, in the city of Beit Lahia in northern Gaza, the strip's Hamas-run authorities say, reports BBC.

Dozens of others are injured and many are still trapped under the rubble after the bombing late on Saturday night, officials added.

Israel said it was checking reports of casualties but said the figures published by Hamas authorities were "exaggerated" and did not match information held by its military.

The latest strikes come just hours after reports of "heavy gunfire" from Israeli troops at the Indonesian Hospital in the city.

Rescue efforts in Beit Lahia are currently hampered due to communications and internet services being severed in the region, Gaza health officials said.

The Hamas-run government media office said the bombing hit "crowded" residential areas, and that 73 people had been killed - a number also reported by Gaza's civil defence agency. The BBC cannot independently verify the figures.

According to Palestinian news agency Wafa, an entire residential complex was destroyed in the strikes.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) told the BBC it had struck a "Hamas terror target" and was "doing everything possible to avoid causing harm to civilians".

It said the casualties given by the Hamas office were "exaggerated" and said such sources had "proven to be sorely unreliable in previous incidents."

Israel began a renewed military offensive in northern Gaza in early October, saying it is trying to prevent Hamas from regrouping in the area.

In particular, Israeli forces have surrounded and bombarded the densely-populated Jabalia area, which includes an urban refugee camp - with at least 33 people reported killed in a strike late on Friday.

Humanitarian groups have warned that virtually no aid has entered the area in the past few weeks. Israel's own statistics show that aid deliveries to Gaza as a whole have collapsed when compared with the same period in September._Agencies.